Phonological Awareness in Preschool and Kindergarten - Why is it Important?

Phonological awareness is the awareness of all of the sounds of language.
It is the ability to hear and distinguish sounds.

Phonemic awareness is a part of phonological awareness.
It is the awareness of individual sounds or phonemes.

In order to learn to read and write, a child must come to understand that language is made up of pieces: Sentences Words Syllables Word parts Individual sounds or phonemes This is an essential part of learning to read. While a certain percentage of children can learn phonological awareness skills on their own, the majority of children need to be taught.

When we hear another language spoken, it is difficult to distinguish between phrases, words, and word parts.

Try listening to a news broadcast or commentary in a language unknown to you.

As you listen, try to separate out words.

This can prove to be very difficult.

An example of this is non Spanish speakers that listen to the song "La Bamba", many times will sing "La, la, la, la, la, bamba.
" In actuality the words are "Para bailar la bamba". Those that don't speak Spanish, can have a difficult time hearing the actual words.

A toddler might learn to say "I love you" without realizing that it is three separate words.
At some point the child figures out that the words are separate.
This is where she can start breaking up and changing the sentence.

She will be able to say "I love Mommy," "I love Daddy," or "Mommy, I love you.

" This ability to break apart sentences into words is part of phonological awareness.

It is so important that children master all of the different parts of phonological awareness. We must teach children how to hear and distinguish sounds, as we are teaching them to read.

We cannot expect them to read words, that they can't hear and break apart into separate sounds.